To Tempt an Heiress
SUSANNA CRAIG
December 6th, 2016
(print $15.00, ebook $3.99)
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For anyone who has read this blog for more than…well, two minutes…it likely doesn’t come as a surprise that I, Elinor, am a nerd. I’m a nerd by profession, but before that I was a nerd because I just couldn’t be anything else. (Thanks, genetics!) I’ve always loved learning new things. As a kid I made my own dictionary of foreign words because I thought other languages were really cool. I wrote letters to famous historical figures (even though I knew they were dead…obviously) just because I wanted to tell them how much their lives meant to me. I read, read, and re-read every book I could get my hands on (and I still do!). Of all my brainy loves, history ranked at the very top. I was and still am captivated by times past and the cultures and societies that populated them.
At that same time that I was geeking out over ancient civilizations or the Napoleonic Wars I was also falling madly in love with other people falling madly in love. I’ve always found romance fascinating, and have been reading stories about how one person gets lost in another for almost as long as I can remember. From Jane Austen to Sappho to my dad’s letters to my mom, beautifully written expressions of love just slay me.
Imagine, then, how happy I was to find Susanna Craig’s To Tempt an Heiress, a novel that perfectly marries these two parts of myself, the history nerd and the lover of love!
To Tempt an Heiress is just THE BEST. Set in Georgian England and the Caribbean, it tells the story of Tempest Holderin, a young woman of fortune who grew up in the British colony of Antigua, and the happily ever after she finds with the dashing Captain Andrew Corrvan. Tempest is the most eligible of ladies—she’s beautiful, she’s intelligent, and, most of all, she’s rich. This makes her a source of desire for half the men on the island and plenty more throughout the Empire. Many of those suitors (most especially the handsy, way too old, all around creeptastic Lord Nathaniel Delamere) want to use Tempest’s money and her property—and Tempest herself—for less than savory ends.
Herein enters the handsome captain, who, despite his better judgment, accepts a proposition from a close friend of the Holderin family: Andrew must kidnap Tempest, haul her aboard his ship, and transport her to London, where she will be safe from the Delameres of the world. Little does Andrew know that his choice to take up this mad plan will change their lives forever. Far more than simple cargo, Tempest is a kind-hearted, headstrong abolitionist who ignites Andrew’s every passion. Far more than a pirate, Andrew is the Shakespeare quoting, storm-sailing man of Tempests’ dream. By the time the journey to London is over, the two are wildly in love, but unable to set aside their pride or ambitions to give their feelings voice. Thankfully, dramatic events force their hands, and the two are brought together in a wonderfully romantic conclusion.
To Tempt an Heiress has everything I want in a romance novel (or in any novel!)— a wonderful cast of characters, steamy sexual tension between the hero and heroine, exquisite period details, a commendable ethical sub-theme (in this case, an anti-slavery narrative) . . . I could go on for ages! In fairness to those of you who will surely want to read the book yourselves (and that should be pretty much everyone ever), I’ll just say these three things.
1: Everything in the story just fits. The characters are believable, their dialogue seems natural, and they do things that make sense for who they are (individually and together) and for their context.. The book follows its own careful, understandable logical, and I just love that. So many books I read are riddled with inconsistencies, which distract me from my pleasure in reading and often leave me frustrated or—the worst!—feeling like I’ve wasted my time. This book is the direct and most awesome opposite!
2: To Tempt an Heiress is, in many ways, a deceptive book. It seems easy. You could read it in a few hours if you aren’t careful because it’s just that compelling. But then you realize that all that ease is the result of the hard work of an excellent writer. Craig’s prose and her close—but not labored!—attention to historical detail make everything flow together just as it should. You feel immersed in the world and the lives of the characters, so much so that real life fades away a bit. This is, I think, the most difficult of a writer’s tasks, and one at which Craig excels more than most.
3: The book is HOT. I mean, really: a sexy sea captain and a gorgeous, liberal-minded lady are trapped together in a tiny cabin for weeks on end? And they’re not supposed to get naked but they both really want to get naked? C’mon! What’s better than that?! While there aren’t extended intimate encounters in the book (there are just two bona fide sex scenes, actually), the tension between the characters and what our minds can do on their own is almost more steamy than the actual scenes themselves!
4: I said 3, but I lied. I need to say one more thing, which is…the cover!
This is my first Susanna Craig novel, but it most certainly won’t be my last! Needless to say, I’d recommend this book to all people with eyeballs, but especially readers who love great prose, admirable characters, and exceptional (really, exceptional) historical writing. If you’re into explicit sex, this isn’t the book for you, but if you like a good slow burn (as we said in a recent review), then you’ll love Andrew and Tempest. Get thee to a bookshop, humans! Do not delay!
AND . . . get thee to our giveaway to enter to win your own copy of To Tempt an Heiress!!! You won’t regret it, I promise!
Anonymisses 